Saturday, June 28, 2014

As the air date for the new Doctor Who is fast approaching on August 23, 2014, I've been rewatching Matt Smith's seasons and specials as the 'Doctor' with my husband (who has never seen them before, but still prefers the David Tennant era) in preparation. Here are selection of the alien creature costumes from the Eleventh Doctor's adventures in time and space on display at the Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff Bay, Wales in May and December 2013.

Original Doctor Who costumes and props on display

The great thing about Doctor Who being filmed in Wales is that after they've done filming an episode a selection of costumes and props can be easily transferred to the ever-changing exhibition space nearby, rather than simply ending up unseen and getting dusty in some archive storage somewhere.

Winder costume from Doctor Who's The Beast Below episode

This Winder costume was featured in the second episode of the fifth season, 'The Beast Below', which saw the Doctor and his new Companion'Amy Pond' exploring Starship UK in the 33rd century. Winders were cyborgs and the police force on board the futuristic home of Britain's population and with their large keys they could operate the clockwork lights and machinery aboard the spaceship.

The two-part episode 'The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood' in season five reintroduced a new generation of Doctor Who enthusiasts to the cold-blooded reptilian bipedal species, the Silurians, who lived below the Earth and are awakened from hibernation by a human drilling operation in the year 2020.

Restac costume worn by Neve McIntosh in Doctor Who

Neve McIntosh played the Silurian military commander 'Restac', who was the twin sister of the captured 'Alaya', and had a hatred for the apes from the surface world.

In the sixth season episode 'Let's Kill Hitler', these robotic antibodies are jellyfish-like guards aboard the humanoid starship/time machine, the Teselecta, which was a Justice Department machine from the future which had returned from the past to kill Adolf Hitler. They attack anyone not wearing a properly encoded wristband.

The Peg Dolls from Doctor Who's Night Terrors episode

These creepy Peg Dolls appear in the sixth season episode 'Night Terrors' and live in a toy doll house in a frightened boy's bedroom cupboard on Earth.

When the Doctor, Amy and her husband 'Rory' answer a distress call from 'George' they discover all is not as it seems and the married couple get transported and miniaturised inside the doll's house, resulting in Amy being turned into a living wooden doll with their sinister touch and haunting laugh.

Handbot from Doctor Who's The Girl Who Waited episode

The Handbots of the Two Streams Facility on Apalapucia were medical drones which administered medicine to their patients. They could see through their fingers and put people to sleep with a touch of their anesthetic hands.

In the sixth season episode 'The Girl Who Waited', Amy Pond is separated in time from Rory and the Doctor and must fend off these white robots, who are simply trying to do their job, for thirty-six years until they arrive in her timeline.

If you like this selection of alien and robot costumes and props, be sure to take a look at more authentic Doctor Whomemorabilia on display at the Doctor Who Experience, and let's hope the forthcoming regeneration of the Time Lord played by Peter Capaldi brings with him many new monsters, aliens and fantastical creatures.

Sunday, June 22, 2014

There's been a lot of talk about director Edgar Wright's exit from Marvel's Ant-Man movie, but before he was focusing on the diminutive hero he was finishing his Three FlavoursCornetto Trilogy of comedy movies, 2004's Shaun of the Dead, 2007's Hot Fuzz and 2013's The World's End, which starred Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.

Original costume worn by Simon Pegg

as Gary King in The World's End

After apocalyptic zombie and cop buddy action movies, the third installment was a science fiction comedy in which Simon Pegg played cocky loser, 'Gary King', on a pub crawl reunion with his old school friends where they come face to face with a robot invasion in their hometown of Newton Haven.

Friday, June 20, 2014

For a change of pace here at Hollywood Movie Costumes and Props I thought I'd feature two picture cars that I spied on my most recent visit to Universal Studios Hollywood in the Upper Lot on April 15, 2014, which played a part in 1999's The Mummy and 2009's Public Enemies.

1931 Duesenberg Model J movie car from The Mummy

This yellow 1931 Duesenberg Model J car belongs to John Hannah's 'Jonathan Carnahan' characterin the fantasy adventure and was featured in The Mummy and The Mummy Returns.

Sunday, June 15, 2014

To help promote the forthcoming new 3D animated feature from Portland-based Laika Studios, The Boxtrolls, Universal Studios Hollywood had an extensive display of character concepts, costumes, faces and stop-motion figures on display at the NBC Universal Experience exhibit on April 15, 2014.

Original stop-moption character figures

and concept designs from The Boxtrolls

The movie is based on Alan Snow's fantasy adventure novel Here Be Monsters! and follows past Laika stop-motion animation movies, Coraline and ParaNorman, but is a hybrid of stop-motion and computer-generated effects.

The Boxtrolls movie poster

The story follows a young orphaned boy named 'Eggs' in a Victorian-Era town who has been raised by a race of subterranean cavern-dwelling trash-collecting creatures, who must be saved by their human ward when they are targeted by an evil pest exterminator named 'Archibald Snatcher'.

The Boxtrolls stop-motion character figures

I'm always amazed at the sheer detail that goes into stop-motion creations, from the miniature costumes and faces, to the intricate sets these puppets inhabit, just look at the elaborate detail of the 'Lord and Lady Portley-Rind' characters.

Underground cave set from The Boxtrolls

The Boxtrolls whowear recycled cardboard boxes the way turtles wear their shells, live beneath the town of Cheesebridge and exist by dumpster-diving and collecting the junk left behind by the town's residents, although the townspeople believe they emerge from the sewers to steal their cheese and children at night.